Stories from the northernmost tip of the earth

The world is far bigger than I imagined. Fortunately, I live in the best era since the emergence of mankind. Through the Internet, I can understand how people live on the other side of the ocean. Through movies, I can know that the other hemisphere is a beautiful and lovely place. Through books, I can understand that there are other things in this world. The customs and customs of many ethnic countries.

In this big world, I, a little person, yearn to go to the southernmost point of the earth, the Antarctic, to see the aurora, and to the northernmost point of the earth, the North Pole, to experience the Eskimos. life.

In 1922, a silent documentary "Nanook of the North" was released, directed by Robert Flaherty. It records the daily life of the family of Inuit leader Nanook near Inujuak in the Hudson Bay in the Arctic Circle of Quebec, Canada.

The Inuit, formerly known as the "Eskimos". The film mainly introduces the process of Nanook trading with white people, catching fish, hunting walrus and seals, and building igloos.

On this piece of ice lives a group of people who make a living by hunting, but they live fearlessly and unrestrainedly, living here happily, without even knowing that there is a bigger world outside. It is even more unimaginable that there is another group of people in the world living near the equator, exposed to the sun all day long, and their skin is dark. In their world, the world is so big and everyone is so alive. They are running for food every day. They eat one meal without finishing the next. It is normal to often walk in front of the hungry gate of hell!

As the head of the family, Nanook needs to work hard to provide food for the family. He is the best hunter in the area, and when a large ice sheet blocks more than a hundred miles of coast and his family is starving to death, he must go out in search of food. He relied on his skills to successfully cross the dangerous ice floes and quickly found a good place to catch fish. If there is no bait, use two tusks to lure the salmon to the bait. You can catch a lot in one day, and you can take it home and give your family a full meal.

They migrate mainly on foot, and in winter they also use dog sleds. There are seven or eight dogs in the film. The leading dog looks like a wolf, and its bark also emits a wolf howl. With so many dogs, and dogs are not social animals in the first place, fights are inevitable, and the alpha dog will be challenged. Sometimes their journey is delayed because of a fight between two dogs, and they cannot return home in time.

They can make a temporary campsite, choose a deep and solid snow field, start building their "Igru", and use licked ivory as a knife to start cutting into the snow, so that the blade will be covered A smooth layer of ice will cut a little faster. Naira, as Nanook's wife, worked with Kunayu to seal the gaps with residual snow.

Finally, Nanook found an ice sheet as a skylight, and used reflected sunlight to penetrate the window, so that the inside would be brighter. The process of building an igloo takes less than an hour. Seeing this, I was wondering, how long does it take to build the thatched houses of some African tribes?

The way they hunt seals is to take advantage of the fact that seals need to breathe. Seals are mammals and need to breathe once when they stay underwater for up to 20 minutes, so they leave a small hole for themselves to breathe on the frozen sea. Nanook seized on this feature and waited near the hole, waiting to catch the seal. After catching it, they competed with the seal, and then their family members arrived. With the support of other forces, the seal quickly became exhausted and suffocated to death. Then they dug a big hole and pulled the seal up, so that their family could have a full meal again.

The Inuit eat seal meat, walrus meat, and fish meat directly, so they are ridiculed by the Indians as "Eskimos." Perhaps it was because there were no cooking conditions in that era, but today's Inuit people also like to eat raw meat, because they feel that cooked meat is an insult to meat. Moreover, raw meat is chewier and can provide enough energy to the body.

They live happily and contentedly like primitive people. Even if they are busy for food every day, they still smile happily and innocently. While watching the movie, I kept thinking, would there be a fight between them? Will there be an affair like in modern society? Naira has to bite her husband Nanook's boots every morning because after a night, the sealskin boots will become stiff and hard. They look very affectionate! (Are you a bit "villainy"?)

They are also very good to their children. Nanook occasionally teaches his eldest son Eli how to draw a bow and makes him a little ice bear. practise. The little boy with bare hands was doing this cold exercise, and soon his hands became cold. Nanook covered his hands and put them against his face to warm them.

Naila took care of their little baby. The child, less than 4 months old, was naked and carried in his mother's hood every day. At the trade market with white people, Naila put her baby among the puppies and let them play together. The 4-month-old child could already sit? He was also hugging the puppy's neck, and he seemed to be quite enjoying it. And every time Nanook got food, Naira would directly hand the raw meat to the baby after finishing it, and he would take it and stuff it into his mouth. It was completely unlike a 4-month-old child, let alone a child in modern society. It needs to be chased and fed every day. Every morning Naira rubs the tip of her nose to show her affection for the child.

In the summer, when the ice has completely melted, if they hear that there are walruses nearby, a group of people will each paddle a canoe and rush there.

Encountering a group of sleeping walruses, there was a "sentinel" who was awake, but they approached quietly, and the walruses had poor eyesight. When it sent out a danger signal, one of the walruses would always move slower and be caught. Then a group of people pulled it until it suffocated. Although walruses are called "underwater tigers", they are still isolated and helpless out of the water. Although the walrus herd made angry sounds and roared at this group of "savages", the walrus mate was even more angry. But in the face of hunger and death, these people will not let go! After a successful hunt, they started eating directly because they were too hungry to wait to take it home.

In 1922, only the silent machine came out. During Nanook's trade with the white man, the white man showed him the principle of the gramophone and how to "load" the sound. The lovely Nanook picked up the disc. Just bite the piece.

At the end of the video, I was surprised at how difficult it was to shoot. How did the photographer take such precious photos under the howling north wind? And every time I think about my mobile phone always freezing and running out of battery in the winter, why is this camera okay? And the pixels are so clear?

Nanook didn’t understand why the director wanted to leave this place. This group of Inuit people were brave and simple. If there was any leftover food, it would be distributed to neighbors or other people in the tribe. There was no monetary transaction among them. Although there was also trade with white people, they only bartered. They exchanged the Arctic fox furs and bear skins they caught throughout the year for white people's knives and various brightly colored candies. But in my opinion, this is really an unequal transaction!

With the progress of the times, the Inuit people now live in wooden houses, have underground hot water pipes, and drive cars, fully entering a civilized society. After all, 96 years have passed since 1922! This film has a rating of 8.6, and after all these years, people still love to watch it because it records that period of history.

Maybe the descendants of the Inuit are also grateful to this film!

——I am a girl without makeup and not afraid of the rain

? Written on April 18, 2018